The Foreign Office (FO) on Saturday rejected the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ concern over the treatment of Pakistan’s Shia community, terming its remarks “cynical and diversionary” and an “exercise in deflection masquerading as concern”. The statement comes a day after the Indian Ministry of External Affairs commented on remarks it attributed to Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir, wherein – during an interaction with Shia clerics – he allegedly said agitators responding violently to events in Iran should go to Iran.
On Friday, Indian Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, according to Indian news agency ANI that such remarks were part of Pakistan’s “systemic victimisation of minorities”.
In response, FO Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi issued a statement on Saturday, saying, “Pakistan rejects India’s remarks as cynical and diversionary – an exercise in deflection masquerading as concern.” He said that India’s comments could not “mask its own record of the steady normalisation of discrimination and violence against Muslims, Christians, and other marginalised communities – from curbs on worship to mob vigilantism and the targeting of homes and livelihoods”. “These patterns are well-documented,” he said. “The escalating wave of mob lynchings targeting Muslims is deeply abhorrent and underscores a climate of unchecked brutality. In 2025, more than 55 Muslims were reportedly lynched in India, and since January 2026, over 19 Muslims have been killed by violent mobs,” he said.
“Extremist groups have unlawfully sought the destruction of 11 mosques. Perpetrators of crimes against Muslims often act with impunity, enabled by state patronage, and are seldom held to account,” he said.